1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to receptacles for surgical instruments and is directed more particularly to a pan adapted to receive and retain angiographic catheters and catheter guide wires.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known radiographic procedures facilitate study and non-surgical therapy of vascular, ductal, vesical and cyst-like structures of normal or pathologic origin. Such studies encompass arteriography, venography, transluminal angioplasty, and percutaneous drainage procedures.
Percutaneous procedures essentially involve the use of guide wires and catheters. There are a multiplicity of types, sizes and configurations of guide wires and catheters unique to the intended use or the anatomy to be examined or manipulated. However, the basic function of all guide wires and of all catheters remains the same.
The catheter is a tube configured for its intended use and provided with a fitting which permits connection of the catheter to a syringe or injector for the introduction or withdrawal of fluids. The guide wire is a wire of varying flexibility and end shape which can be introduced through a needle bore into an artery, vein, or tubular structure to be examined, and advanced along and within same. Its function is to maintain access and provide stability and guidance for the catheter.
In a known procedure, a needle puncture is made through the skin, into an artery, vein or viscus. A guide wire is advanced through the needle bore into and within the vessel. The needle is then withdrawn, leaving the wire in position defining a pathway from the skin to a selected structure. A catheter is advanced over the external portion of the wire, through the puncture, and into the vessel, the catheter being guided and stabilized by the wire. When the catheter is appropriately positioned, the guide wire is withdrawn, leaving the catheter in position to effect examination or therapy. Radiographic constrast media or medication may be injected, or fluids sampled, or structures drained. Should repositioning, replacement, or exchange of catheters be required, an appropriate guide wire is reintroduced through the positioned catheter, which can then be repositioned, or withdrawn, over the wire. New catheters may be introduced over the wire as many times as is necessary to complete the study.
Catheters and guide wires are generally prepackaged, sterile and usually disposable items. Repetitive use and exchange of the catheters and guide wires are frequently made during a given procedure to accomplish the objectives of the study. It is common to use and reuse several different guide wires and catheters in a given procedure.
During such procedures, it is necessary that guide wires and catheters set aside for later use be maintained in a sterile atmosphere, be readily accessible to the operator, be completely immersed in a wash solution, be completely immersed in an anticoagulant solution (for some procedures), and be segregated so that they may be readily identified and used without becoming intertwined with other stored wires and/or catheters.
It has been customary to use as a storage or holding mechanism a basin or pan filled with a physiologic solution to which has been added an anticoagulant. The wires and catheters are coiled when removed from the patient and the coil immersed in the solution, thereby maintaining a sterile, anticoagulative wash atmosphere. However, since the basin or pan is without compartmentalization, the wires and catheters cannot be stored separately in the pan and tend to become entangled with each other, making it difficult and time consuming to identify and separate one from the other. Furthermore, the usual configuration of basins and pans includes vertical or outwardly sloping walls from bottom to top. Such configuration, in conjunction with the expansile nature of the coiled wires and catheters renders the usual container unsatisfactory. The tendency of the guide wires and catheters to uncoil and spring upwards makes it difficult to retain them and particularly to insure that they remain submerged in the solution.